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Must-Have Tools to Scan the Condition of Your PC

Let’s get over it, there is no computer that works flawlessly for years – there are always some problems, small or serious ones that require diagnostics. Of course, you can take your device to the service center and ask an expert to help you, however, it would be better to entrust computer to specialists in the most neglected cases. The thing is that you can easily detect all these problems and find solutions online with help of certain tools and utilities – and all of them can be used for free.

These tools may come in handy to find out what hardware exactly is installed on your computer and to discover problems, if they exist.

Hardware Tools

CPU-Z

This small, yet first-class tool helps to scan the system to find out its hardware configuration. It is vital in case if you want to change some parts on your computer and want to avoid incompatibility. It will show you clearly, what section of your system requires improvement and what components are the most suitable for your system. Another way to use CPU-Z is to check of a used PC you want to buy from a private seller.

Performance Monitor

Windows 10, as well as elder versions of this PC, has a Performance Monitor that usually shows only the percentage of used CPU at a current period of time, however, with help of Settings, you can add more monitoring features like search index size or disk usage.

Reliability Monitor

This tool received undeservedly little attention, although it was released together with Windows Vista and Vista users can find it in the Control Panel following the path System & Security – Security & Maintenance – Maintenance – View reliability history. This tool records all events and errors that took place within certain time and evaluates the stability of the system. With its help you can find the most faulty app or parts of the computer.

Network Diagnostics

This tool helps to search and solve all network-based issues.

WiFi Analyzer

The name of the app speaks for itself: it analyzes the condition of your Wi-Fi and figures out, whether your Wi-Fi comes across nearby Wi-Fi networks. Among the useful features of this tool is an ability to increase the speed of your Wi-Fi connection up to 5 times.

Angry IP Scanner

This tool identifies IP addresses and ports that are being used and what devices use it. Angry IP Scanner is very helpful in case you want to find out who uses your Internet connection

Data Drive Diagnostics

CrystalDiskInfo

This software helps to evaluate the condition of your hard drive, including USB drive: it gathers and shows information about temperature, spin-up time, error rates etc.

WinDirStat

Windows Directory Statistics shows the amount of space used by different folders and files. It helps to search empty folders that clog up the hard drive and complicate navigation through the disks and folders. It visualizes the file structure of the system and helps to clean it up.

Memory Diagnostics

This tool helps to scan the condition of RAM and warns you, in case there are some problems. Keep in mind that running out of RAM may cause crashes of the system.

Resource Monitor

Usually this tool is used together with the Performance Monitor to get the full picture of the system’s condition. This combination is the best way to solve RAM issues: slowdowns, crushes, memory leaks and so on.

Windows Memory Diagnostic

This built-in tool tests RAM modules to check their condition and the occurrence of mistakes. When you launch it, it will reboot the computer and during the reboot make some tests of RAM to find out if whether there are any mistakes. And if there is any issue, it will show which model causes all problems – and it is a sign that you have to replace it.

Screen Diagnostics

JScreenFix

Sometimes pixels get stuck on certain color – and it is noticeable as they jump out on you. This tool is really helpful as it unsticks such pixels within 10 minutes of operation: it flashes the area of the screen where you find stuck pixels with hundreds of colors (however, if it is a physical defect of the screen, this tool won’t help).

Malware Diagnostics

AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free multifeatured tool that helps to scan the system and find malware, if any.

MalwareBytes

It is a well-known tool for malware scanning that has both free and paid versions – still, free version is more than enough for home usage.

ClamWin

This tool may be called the best free virus scanner as of today. Although the scan may seem time-consuming, you may rest assured that this tool will find everything malicious on your computer.